Push the Sky Away

Push the Sky Away
Image: Addi Road. Photo by Sebastian Grey.

By MARK MORDUE

Sometimes a photo can tell its own story without words. Like today, a little heavy with the likelihood of afternoon rain. A group of people standing together, pushing back against the mood of the sky.

From left to right, it’s an impressive gathering… Tu Le (Community Development Manager, Marrickville Legal Centre); Rosanna Barbero (CEO, Addi Road); Sally Sitou (ALP Federal Member for Reid); Dina Petrakis (CEO, Ethnic Community Services Co-operative); Mostafa ‘Moz’ Azimitabar (artist and human rights activist); and Vasili Maroulis (Managing Principal Solicitor, Marrickville Legal Centre).

When he sees the photo, Maroulis calls it “beautiful”. “I know each person,” he says. “And they are fantastic people. Each of them is a champion out there in the community. Fighting the never-ending battles,” he adds with a laugh. At the Marrickville Legal Centre (MLC), he admits, it’s not always easy to see the glory in that. It’s when he meets fellow travellers like this he gets a perspective on what the MLC has really achieved.

“We do a ridiculous amount of work,” Maroulis says. “The output of our lawyers is way above any other community legal centre. But it’s not picked up by the media. We just continue to focus on our clients, as mundane as their needs might seem. I actually have this note written up on my whiteboard in the office – WITHOUT SONGS OR SINGER. I don’t want to lose that focus on what matters.”

Maroulis’ co-worker, Tu Le, shares his coalface vision for Marrickville Legal Centre. “It’s great to be embedded in the community at Addi Road. People come to get food hampers or use other services here and they visit us for free legal advice. It’s really helped with our accessibility, which is what is so important.”

Tu Le points to the photo: “If you look at the image I don’t think it’s too obvious who the politician is. It doesn’t feel staged. You know how those kind of photos look,” she says, arching her eyes. After having her own political career derailed in a high-profile ALP preselection battle for the seat of Fowler, she believes what happened to her actually helped Sally Sitou in Reid. Rather than feel melancholy about how things might have been, Tu Le says Sitou’s success is “inspiring for me. The nature of Australian politics is changing. Even if the progress is slow.”

Mostafa ‘Moz’ Azimitabar is not without scepticism too. Being identified as a refugee can create its own dehumanising and disempowering problems. Establishing himself as an artist with his recent entry into the Archibald Prize and continuing to be a human rights advocate is one antidote in a long struggle.

“I want the politicians to know we must change the type of visas that I and many others need. We have to get a permanent visa. At the moment, I can’t study or get a work qualification, after ten years of torture and being in detention,” he says. “I look at this picture and hope it shows that politicians will begin seeking humanitarian solutions rather than punishment of asylum seekers like me. You know, when I come to Addi Road I feel safe. No, not safe, I am safe in other places too. I mean… I feel like I am visiting my family.”

Perhaps that promise of intimacy and respect is at the heart of things today. Sally Sitou had come to Marrickville to meet with CEO Rosanna Barbero and some of the individuals and organisations Addi Road has been collaborating with. Campaigns like #RacismNOTWelcome and Addi Road’s food relief work during the lockdowns and the floods had impressed her: “Dedicated and committed people are what turn a place into a community, and that’s what Addi Road is – people who really look out for each other.”

Dina Petrakis of ECSC (Ethnic and Community Services Co-operative) looks at the image another way and says “it brings to mind a strong collaboration, not so much allies but accomplices. There’s a lot of talk about identity politics and diversity lately, about gender and colour, but no one is talking about class. I look at the picture and see all those elements in play, including class. Maybe that’s because we are al working in way that is a little bit underground and less visible in the mainstream. But everyone is still very active.

“It’s symbolic of what Addi Road is like too … without all these different people and organisations there would not be an Addi Road; but without Addi Road we could not come together and achieve the things we do. I see something optimistic in that.”

Addi Road’s Rosanna Barbero echoes those sentiments. “I look at this photo and see people standing in solidarity with the community and with each other.”

“In our society today we are seeing rights being taken away; people who just can’t afford to find any legal redress in their lives. It was MLC who got all the international students their superannuation,” she says. “ But it’s not just to do with what affects people’s pockets, it’s the mental health issues too. Students not knowing if their visa will be extended. The endless nights unable to sleep, the stress and insecurity.

“Dina and ECSC are doing similar work in another way, working with CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) communities: helping children, people in aged care, disability services. Getting vital information to people. A lot of whom don’t even know they have rights and support.”

“Look at all the things Moz has been through; the torture, the years of detention. And now he is a vital part of our community, thriving, and active with us.”

“I think when you look at this photo you can see hope,” Barbero says. “Things are still tough. We know that. But with the change of government there is a feeling all these stories will not simply disappear, or never be heard. And that is what hope means. The chance to be heard. It’s what we are all trying to do in our own way and when we come together it feels another Australia is possible. That’s what Moz is working for and what we are all working towards.”

You May Also Like

Comments are closed.